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Example research essay topic: Athletic Scholarship Athletic Programs - 2,794 words

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Athletic Scholarships: Who Wins? Athletic scholarships are designed to support physically gifted and talented students. This simple description makes it difficult to envision the problems associated with athletic scholarships, but recently, athletic scholarships and the programs linked with them have become quite controversial. In spite of this controversy, athletic scholarships should be retained, but college athletic programs should be reformed to de emphasize winning at all costs and to ensure that all student athletes are treated fairly. College athletic programs are certainly valuable. These programs increase school spirit and help to create a sense of community.

They also help to raise money: winning teams spark alumni contributions, and athletic events raise funds through ticket sales. In addition, athletic programs like programs in the performing arts and music help to provide a rewarding, balanced education for all students. Student athletes make important academic, social, and cultural contributions to their schools and thus enrich the college experience for others. Finally, without athletic scholarships, many students would not be able to attend college because, as Alvin Sanoff observes, the aid for which many economically deprived student athletes are eligible does not cover the expense of a college education the way athletic scholarships do (par. 5). Despite their obvious advantages, college athletic programs have problems.

First, not all athletes or all programs are valued equally. On many campuses money, equipment, and facilities have traditionally been allotted to football and basketball at the expense of less visible sports such as swimming, tennis, and field hockey. Mens sports have been given a disproportionate amount of support, and winning teams and coaches have been compensated accordingly. In fact, according to Sue M. Durrant, until recently it was not unusual for womens teams to use hand-me-down gear while mens teams played with new state of the art equipment or for womens teams to travel by bus while mens teams traveled by plane (60). Another problem is that college athletes at all levels complain that their roles as athletes are overemphasized, to the detriment of their roles as students.

According to Francis X. Deals, some college athletic departments have become little more than glorified training camps for professional sports teams. This problem is compounded by overzealous recruiting practices, with colleges accepting academically unqualified students solely because of their athletic skills. These students are exploited and overworked, treated as commodities rather than as students, and given little academic support; many fail to graduate (106). With the demands of heavy travel and practice schedules, many student athletes, even those with strong academic backgrounds, risk falling behind in their studies. Moreover, their grueling schedules tend to isolate them from other students, excluding them from the college community.

Given these difficulties, college athletic programs are under considerable pressure to institute reforms. The problems associated with athletic scholarships are numerous and complex, but they have less to do with the scholarships themselves than with the way dishonest and exploitive athletic administrators run their programs. It is understandable that the main focus of most collegiate sports programs is winning. According to Vince Lombardi, the famous football coach, Winning isnt everything; its the only thing. To the alumni, the administrators, and the fans, the only measure of an athletic programs success is its win / loss record. A winning record attracts money and students; a losing record does not.

They seem to believe, as the philosopher George Santayana has observed, In athletics, as in all performances, only winning is interesting. The rest has value only as leading to it or reflecting it (q. in Deals 61). This concentration on winning has led to some of the worst abuses in college athletic programs. Francis X. Deals reports that this competitive attitude existed even in the first American intercollegiate competition, an 1852 rowing contest between Harvard and Yale.

Harvard won, and so began a fierce rivalry between the two schools (56). As Deals observes, Judging from the intensity of the spectators and the participants, the stakes included which school had the more beautiful campus, the smarter faculty, the brighter student body, and the more successful alumni (59). The emphasis on winning encouraged the recruitment of the best athletes, no matter what the cost. In fact, Deals observes that the first athletic scholarships were in the form of salaries paid to professional athletes to perform in the name of a particular school. Without regulation, athletic scholarships were like shady financial deals arranged in smoky back rooms (56). Athletes became commodities to be bought and sold.

Fleisher, Goff, and Tollison report that until the late 1870 s, collegiate games were generally marked by violence... and controversy over eligibility requirements. Athletes moved from school to school, ... and club members hired professional athletes to participate in intercollegiate events (37). Several organizations were formed to help control violence and to standardize rules, but all had spotty participation and were short-lived. In December 1905, in order to deal with violence and to standardize rules of play, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was formed in response to the concerns of Theodore Roosevelt, then president of the United States.

Even though the scope of the NCAA has widened tremendously in the last ninety years, one of its main concerns remains the equitable distribution of financial aid and scholarships (Fleisher, Goff, and Tollison 38 - 41). Today the NCAA continues to address abuses associated with athletic programs and scholarships, including aggressive and often unethical recruitment techniques, a disproportionate amount of money being awarded to men over women, and academically under prepared athletes being admitted to and retained by colleges and universities. The organizations task is a difficult one, however, because the problems have deep roots. Recruitment of student athletes, a large and controversial part of the athletic scholarship process, is often unethical. Understandably, colleges and universities want to recruit the finest athletes for their teams, but sometimes this quest for the best has led to overly aggressive recruitment practices. Deals reports, for example, that until the late 1980 s, recruiters openly enticed talented high school football players with promises of generous financial aid and merchandise, including cars or expensive athletic clothing and shoes.

After several instances of unethical recruitment practices became public, most notably the fact that one university had been paying its football players salaries to play ball, the NCAA intervened and became more vigorous in its attempt to regulate the recruitment process. Recruitment is still the principal means of matching students with available funds. For this reason, violations continue to account for 60 to 70 percent of all NCAA infractions (Deals 173 - 80). Perhaps due to the intense competition for positions and scholarships, unethical recruitment has not been eliminated. Skippy Tiptoe Walker, assistant football coach at a large Texas high school, reports that some of his athletes have been recruited in ways that could be considered unethical 1. Walker is quick to point out, though, that most of his athletes do not receive scholarships.

In fact, only two football players from his high school have received athletic scholarships during the past ten years. This statistic is in line with statistics from the rest of the country. As reported by Deals, very few high school seniors one out of every 118 actually receive athletic scholarships (180). Understandably, competition for funds and positions is stiff. Some students try to locate their own athletic scholarships by paying a nominal fee to an independent search service, which enters the students name into a national database and also provides the student with a list of available scholarships and schools seeking recipients (You C.

A. N. ). Sexism is another serious problem in college athletic programs. In fact, the economics of college sports almost ensures that female athletes will not be recruited as aggressively as male athletes are. The strongest teams, in the view of colleges, are the ones that generate the greatest amount of interest (and revenue). In general, the money- making teams are the mens teams.

Because the emphasis is on winning and making money, it is not surprising that colleges and recruiters concentrate on men when building and maintaining their sports programs. Since the introduction of Title IX in 1972, however, this focus on mens teams is illegal. According to Title IX, No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance (q. in Durrant 60). Sue M. Durrant reports that although Title IX encompasses nearly all facets of education, it is mainly associated with increased opportunities for women in the area of athletics (60).

In fact, Durrant notes, Title IX tilted the balance of power. Title IX granted acceptability and status to elementary school, high school, and college female athletes (61). During the first decade that Title IX was in place, the number of women athletes in colleges doubled, and there was rapid growth in female athletic programs at all levels of education, particularly in colleges and universities (Durrant 61). Since this ten-year-span of compliance to the law, however, there has been an obvious slowing of the movement toward equality between men and women in collegiate sports programs. Even as recently as 1997 ironically, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Title IX parity had not been achieved. As Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shall commented in a documentary film that year, In twenty-five years, Title IX has still not been fully realized (Breaking Through).

One of the areas in which this lack of progress is most visible and measurable is athletic financial aid and scholarships. A 1992 NCAA study of gender equity in colleges that play big-time sports showed the degree to which mens sports received more money than womens sports. The following graph illustrates this disparity in spending. Fig. 1.

Summary of Comparative Spending for Mens and Womens Sports. Based on information from Douglas Lederman, Men Get 70 Percent of Money Available for Athletic Scholarships and Colleges That Play Big-Time Sports Programs, Chronicle of Higher Education 18 Mar. 1992: A 1. The NCAA study found that mens teams received almost 70 percent of the athletic scholarship money, 77 percent of the operating money, and 83 percent of the recruiting money. And, as a 1997 New York Times article reports, for all the progress women have made, they are still far behind men on the playing fields (Chambers A 1). In fact, the 1992 NCAA gender equity study found that the finding for mens athletics continues to dwarf the money spent on womens sports (Chambers A 1).

Supporters of womens programs argue that the distribution of money should be based on enrollment, which, as reported in a Chronicle of Higher Education study of gender equality, would give women a slight edge over men (Lederman, Men Outnumber A 1). In order for progress to be made in gender equity in college sports, it is important for the NCAA and other independent organizations to continue surveys like the NCAA gender equity study. And, as Durrant points out, it is also important that complaints continue to be filed when discrimination is suspected or encountered (63). Admissions irregularities have also plagued college athletics. Proposition 48 was an effort by the NCAA to address the problems. When it was made public that some of Americas star college athletes were unable to read (Deals 111), the NCAA was forced into action.

Proposition 48, the result of much compromise and maneuvering during the Ncaa's 1983 convention, required that athletes meet two basic academic requirements before they could receive athletic scholarships. Alvin Sanoff reports that the potential recipients had to score at least 700 out of a possible 1, 600 points on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (or 15 out of 36 on the American College Test) or attain a C average in eleven core academic courses. If the student achieved only one of these requirements, he or she was a partial qualifier and, although eligible for an athletic scholarship, would not be allowed to participate in sports during his or her first year (68). Since Proposition 48 went into effect in 1986, approximately six hundred students per year have received athletic scholarships under the partial qualifier umbrella. Of these students, 90 percent were African-American football or basketball players (Sanoff, par. 6). In 1989, however, the NCAA voted to enact a series of reforms, the most stringent of which was to take effect in August 1995, when, as reported by Lederman, first-year athletes would be required to achieve a 2. 5 grade-point average in thirteen academic core courses rather than 2. 0 in eleven courses as previously required.

Students would also have to score a minimum of 700 on the SAT in addition to the GPA requirement (NCAA Votes A 1). 2 Because underprivileged athletes are most affected by these rule changes, the proposed reforms were extremely controversial. John Chaney, the mens basketball coach at Temple University, called the new rule an insane, inhuman piece of legislation that will fill the streets with more of the disadvantaged (q. in Sanoff, par. 7). The late tennis player Arthur Ashe believed, however, that any time educational standards have been raised, the athletes have gotten the message (q.

in Sanoff, par. 7). Preliminary results of ongoing studies have indicated that the athletes are indeed getting the message: the graduation rate of Division I scholarship athletes entering college in 1986 was six percentage points higher than the average graduation rates of athletes who enrolled at those same colleges three years before Proposition 48 took effect (Blum, Graduation A 42). Other study results show that the number of academically under prepared athletes enrolling in Division I colleges dropped in 1991. As reported by Debra Blum, however, these statistics do not necessarily indicate improvement: The decline in the number of academically under qualified athletes going to Division I and II colleges may mean that more athletes are meeting the standard, as supporters of the standard contend. On the other hand, the decline may suggest that the under prepared students are simply moving in greater numbers into junior colleges or preparatory schools or, as some critics fear, that they are not continuing their education at all. (More Freshmen A 39) Despite the problems, colleges should retain athletic scholarships with certain changes. Academic support programs should be reformed so that they are fair to all student athletes men and women, football players and tennis players, winners and losers.

Academics not sports must be given first priority. Students who receive athletic scholarships should not be exploited; they should be treated like other scholarship recipients. Recruitment should be responsible, academic standards should be maintained, and promises made to athletes should be realistic. In short, the scholarship athlete should be treated like any other exceptional student on campus who loves his or her subject and takes joy in the process of learning. Athletic programs clearly benefit educational institutions, and athletic scholarships should certainly be a part of any college system; however, the focus of sports programs should expand to encompass the personal enrichment of the whole student.

Shifting the focus of athletics away from winning will ultimately benefit not only college athletes and the scholarship programs that support them, but also the colleges themselves. Blum, Debra E. Graduation Rate of Scholarship Athletes Rose after Proposition 48 Was Adopted, NCAA Reports. Chronicle of Higher Education 7 July 1993: A 42 - 44... More Freshmen Meet Academic Standards Set by NCAA. Chronicle of Higher Education 21 Apr. 1993: A 38 - 40.

Breaking Through: Our Turn to Play. Lifetime Cable Network. 19 June 1997. Chambers, Marcia. For Women, 25 Years of Title IX Has Not Leveled the Playing Field. New York Times 16 June 1997: A 1 +. Deals, Francis X.

Win at Any Cost. New York: Carol, 1990. Durrant, Sue M. Title Its Power and Its Limitations. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance 45 (1992): 60 - 64. Fleisher, Arthur A. , Brian L.

Goff, and Robert D. Tollison. The National Collegiate Athletic Association. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1992.

Lederman, Douglas. Men Get 70 % of Money Available for Athletic Scholarships and Colleges That Play Big-Time Sports, New Study Finds. Chronicle of Higher Education 18 Mar. 1992: A 1 +... Men Outnumber Women and Get Most of Money in Big- Time Sports Programs. Chronicle of Higher Education 8 Apr. 1992: A 1 +... NCAA Votes Higher Academic Standards for College Athletes.

Chronicle of Higher Education 15 Jan. 1992: A 1 +. Sanoff, Alvin P. When Is the Playing Field Too Level? U. S.

News &# 038; World Report 30 Jan. 1989. 10 pars. CompuServe. 3 Mar. 1994. Walker, Skippy Tiptoe. E-mail to the author. 1 March 1998. You C. A.

N. Get Help with a Scholarship. Scholastic Coach Aug. 1992: 56.


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Research essay sample on Athletic Scholarship Athletic Programs

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